Queer WWII History Reading List

The Queer U.S. World War II Home Front

For many LGBTQ+ Americans, World War II marked a turning point. Millions left their hometowns for military service or defense work, encountered others like themselves, and built new social networks in rapidly growing cities. Although the military intensified efforts to identify and exclude homosexual personnel, the war also fostered communities, identities, and spaces that laid the foundation for the modern LGBTQ+ movement. Understanding the queer home front helps explain why cities such as San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle emerged as major centers of LGBTQ+ life in the decades that followed.

World War II and the Birth of Modern LGBTQ+ Communities

Allan Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II

A foundational history of LGBTQ+ Americans during World War II that demonstrates how military service and wartime migration helped create modern gay and lesbian communities.

Brett Beemyn, ed., Creating a Place for Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community Histories

Explores LGBTQ+ communities before and during World War II and shows how wartime migration transformed American cities into centers of queer social life.

Wartime Society, Citizenship, and the Home Front

Nan Alamilla Boyd, Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965

Examines San Francisco before and after World War II, demonstrating how wartime migration transformed the city into one of the nation's most important LGBTQ+ communities while offering an alternative to Stonewall-centered narratives.

Margot Canaday, The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America

Examines how the U.S. government constructed and enforced heterosexual norms. An essential framework for understanding the regulation of sexuality before, during, and after World War II.

Military Service, Masculinity, and Exclusion

Allan Bérubé, ed. John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History

A collection of essays and autobiographical reflections exploring gay history, labor, and community formation, including the lasting impact of World War II on LGBTQ+ life.

Randy Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf

Chronicles the military's treatment of LGBTQ+ service members from the Vietnam War through the early 1990s, showing how policies established during World War II shaped decades of military exclusion.

Jasper Craven, God Forgives, Brothers Don't: The Long March of Military Education and the Making of American Manhood

Explores how military education shaped ideals of American masculinity and examines the relationship between military culture, gender, and the policing of sexuality.

Personal Narratives and Community Memory

Marcia M. Gallo, Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement

Traces the history of the nation's first lesbian rights organization and highlights how women whose lives were shaped by World War II helped build the postwar movement.

Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America

A highly accessible history of lesbian life in the United States, with excellent chapters on wartime opportunities, migration, and changing identities.

Beyond World War II: The War's Lasting Legacy

Lillian Faderman, The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle

Places World War II within the broader history of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, showing how wartime experiences influenced later activism.

David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government

Explains how wartime policies and attitudes toward homosexuality evolved into the federal government's Cold War purge of LGBTQ+ employees.

Documentary

Arthur Dong, dir. Coming Out Under Fire. Berkeley, CA: DeepFocus Productions, 1994.

Based on Allan Bérubé's groundbreaking book, this documentary remains one of the best introductions to the experiences of LGBTQ+ Americans during World War II and the lasting impact of the war on queer life in the United States.

Digital Exhibit and Public History

Matthew L. Basso, “World War II & the American Home Front, Volume 2: A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study,” National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the National Historic Landmarks Program: https://ncph.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/World-War-II-and-the-American-Home-Front-Volume-2.pdf

Donna Graves, LGB Histories From the WWII Home Front, Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park, National Parks Service: https://www.nps.gov/rori/learn/historyculture/lgb-histories-from-the-wwii-home-front.htm

The National WWII Museum (New Orleans), “"Coming Out Under Fire": The Story of Gay and Lesbian Servicemembers,” https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/gay-and-lesbian-service-members

John D'Emilio, host, “The Other War,” Queer America, episode 7, podcast audio, December 13, 2018, Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/resources/stories/the-other-war/